I have been listening to Kunk and Noir's advice, and also keeping a food and exercise log. What I notice is that if you guess your calories, and just try to "eat lighter"...you will fail. Start a spreadsheet and write down everything you eat, and break it into carbs, fat, protein and total calories. Check out CalorieKing website. It takes longer, but it is the only way to KNOW, not HOPE, what you are really eating. Eating .25 g per bodyweight of carbs, or between 30 -50 g per day, will put you on the right track. No cheating. Make it an experiment. If you have psychological reasons for overeating, they will surface, which will give you an opportunity to deal with that as well. I found this very motivating. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._beast_evolves

Apologies to the OP for the threadjack but, Kunk, I researched the cyclic ketogenic diet a bit, and it seems like it could help me lose the last little annoying bit of fat around my midsection. Could you tell me a little more about it? Most of the stuff I found wasn't really directed towards me. And the stuff that was seems really general. I eat really clean all the time and am a runner (though I have lifted a little in the recent past). I was thinking of maybe easing off the running for a bit and returning to lifting, with maybe a little HIIT mixed in. But I was curious: does this diet require a calorie deficit? Or is it one of those eat-whatever-and-lose things? How hard is it to mix it with healthy eating? Most of the stuff I found practically ordered that you gorge on foods of the artery-clogging variety.

this and the anabolic diet can be used for cutting or clean bulking. for bulking, slowly add calories, for cutting, reduce intake. i've run at an average daily deficit of roughly 600 below my resting needs. supposedly, the weekly refeed (2-3g of carbs per lb of bw is what i've done) resets your hormone profile and raises leptin levels.

here's what my daily intake looks like:

8 am-5 eggs, broccoli and cheddar

11am-lo-carb metabolic drive shake

1:30-5 turkey meatballs

4pm-lo carb shake

7pm-5-6 oz steak, spinach salad

10pm-lo carb shake

on a refeed, looks like this:

4 pancakes with syurup, 2 eggs

1 large burrito

2 servings baked ziti

3 slices pizza

tuna steak with 2 cups rice

well, something like that anyway.

i will let you know how it goes as i'm taking a 1 week break and then will be using a CKD as a clean-bulking cycle.

i am somewhat gluten intolerant, so i have taken to upping the fruit and veg and lowering the wheat-based carbs on refeed days, but to each his/her own. either way, it's a nice psychological break. feel a bit hypocritical as i've been a bit lax this week, but a) i had surgery and b) after 14 weeks of this, i had stalled a bit in weight loss and needed a break regardless.

Calories in V Calories Out If you drop those Calories dude, your weight will plummet. For me, I was 125kg, now down to 105, goal weight is 90kg. I tend to plataeu every few months - loose weight, stay were I'm at, loose weight, stay were I'm at, loose weight, stay were I'm at, loose etc etc. It's just Caloric restriction + burning energy. Make sure you get your heart rate up, it's the easiest way of knowing your doing well. Its easy to cycle or play sports and not get it up. How much sodium do you consume? Water follows salt in your body. Fibre helps too.

Some people decry it but I find that intermittent fasting has had great effects on me for weight loss. If you want a no-brain way to do it, just don't eat anything before 12 noon or after 8 PM. In that eight-hour window, eat normally.

But then you're likely to eat too much during that window. I did the one big meal a day thing for a long time (plus light breakfast and late night snack) and kept getting bigger and bigger. Once I forced myself to start eating after my first cup of coffee I was able to eat more reasonable meals the rest of the day.

Also, no buffets allowed..... unless it's a salad bar and you go very light on the dressing.

But then you're likely to eat too much during that window. I did the one big meal a day thing for a long time (plus light breakfast and late night snack) and kept getting bigger and bigger. Once I forced myself to start eating after my first cup of coffee I was able to eat more reasonable meals the rest of the day.

Also, no buffets allowed..... unless it's a salad bar and you go very light on the dressing.

It really depends on the person I think. I found that I was likely to eat too much when I was eating six meals a day as opposed to just three in an IF-restricted window.